Someone listening in

[h0b0]

I am very aware that “we are the product” and have accepted some level of intrusion in to my life as part of owning a smart phone and using services such as gmail. Today something new happened that I had not seen before though and it’s an interesting step in a direction I’m not that comfortable with.

I called to schedule service on my sprinklers. When I hung up, there was a recommendation calendar entry for the appointment from google. This is normal, and useful, when it is triggered from an email. Today, it was only in the phone call.

I know, I know....... they are listening in all the time. My wife and I joke about it. Yesterday YouTube was running constant Tiffany’s adverts because of my wife’s window shopping. But, this is the first time google have been so blatant about sitting in on calls.

This is the US so it may be different in the UK. Has anyone else seen a change like this?

[mcflurry]

Did the sprinkler company email you a calendar appointment entry?

[Autopilot]

Yep!!

I understand how various accounts, use of browsers etc etc can be used to create a single dataset / profile of a person, but I've had face to face conversations and then had targeted marketing within a day or so. Coincidence? I don't think so!

Things my partner has had an interest in also appear in browser banner ads and Facebook marketing when using my own devices.

[h0b0]

mcflurry said:

Did the sprinkler company email you a calendar appointment entry?

Nope. That's the level of intrusion that I am comfortable with. Today was a new experience. The only existence of the conversation was during the phone call.

[Brainpox]

Weird st like this is why I'm migrating everything to Apple and other privacy-centric companies this year.

Tin foil hat time but with always being listened to, and stories like Cambridge Analytica, to some it may be just a few adverts, but I want to get rid of ties to any business that uses what I talk about in the privacy of my own home to adjust what I see when I'm online.

I know I'll never get rid of it all but I can at least vote with my wallet.

Edited by Brainpox on Tuesday 15th September 14:26

[chml]

h0b0 said:

Nope. That's the level of intrusion that I am comfortable with. Today was a new experience. The only existence of the conversation was during the phone call.

But you spoke to the sprinkler company didn't you? So presumably their operator just pushed the request through the sales funnel on their CRM?

[h0b0]

chml said:

h0b0 said:

Nope. That's the level of intrusion that I am comfortable with. Today was a new experience. The only existence of the conversation was during the phone call.

But you spoke to the sprinkler company didn't you? So presumably their operator just pushed the request through the sales funnel on their CRM?

I did consider the mechanism for the information getting to my calendar. Yes, the sprinkler company did make an entry into their CRM for the appointment. I would be surprised if google could pull directly from that entry though. And, the time was wrong. The suggested start time was 12 when the appointment time is 1PM. That leads me to believe the information can't be from the creation of their own calendar entry. It also eliminates the possibility of the sprinkler company sending me a confirmation email and it ending in my spam folder (also checked) as it had incorrect details.

This is not me being paranoid and signing up to David Ike conventions. I knew my information was being used to help me and to advertise to me. I have found the calendar entry suggestions from emails very useful. I knew my location was also being used to target information. My wife visited a data center in Ohio and the family received many adverts for enterprise technology products for weeks.

It is the phone call part that somehow feels a step too far.

[Carbon Sasquatch]

What google devices do you have ?

Process of elimination to figure out what happened. If you’re sure it was at your end, then one of your devices was listening to at least your side of the conversation

[h0b0]

Iphone with gmail installed. When the suggested calendar entry came up I assumed I had an email come through. I do have gooogle wifi as well but do not use wifi calling.

[Johnnytheboy]

I was showing someone on Google Maps where a hotel was that a family member had booked me in to.

It came up with information about my booking.

Clever really, considering I hadn't booked it.

The only data connection was that he had forwarded the booking confirmation to me by email.

[jeremyc]

Did you give the sprinkler company a Gmail email address as your contact?

I'm willing to bet that as soon as they put that into their CRM entry then it triggered a Google calendar entry suggestion for you. The time difference thing will be the CRM or Google calendar messing up time zones and/or daylight savings time.

[bigpriest]

h0b0 said:

I am very aware that “we are the product” and have accepted some level of intrusion in to my life as part of owning a smart phone and using services such as gmail. Today something new happened that I had not seen before though and it’s an interesting step in a direction I’m not that comfortable with.

I called to schedule service on my sprinklers. When I hung up, there was a recommendation calendar entry for the appointment from google. This is normal, and useful, when it is triggered from an email. Today, it was only in the phone call.

I know, I know....... they are listening in all the time. My wife and I joke about it. Yesterday YouTube was running constant Tiffany’s adverts because of my wife’s window shopping. But, this is the first time google have been so blatant about sitting in on calls.

This is the US so it may be different in the UK. Has anyone else seen a change like this?

Sounds great, where do I sign up? I wouldn't forget my dental appointment then

Was it a regular sprinkler service that you have arranged before? Maybe the number dialled has matched one in your contacts, it knows the company so has simply suggested an appointment based on a previous one.

[Scrump]

Brainpox said:

Weird st like this is why I'm migrating everything to Apple and other privacy-centric companies this year.

Tin foil hat time but with always being listened to, and stories like Cambridge Analytica, to some it may be just a few adverts, but I want to get rid of ties to any business that uses what I talk about in the privacy of my own home to adjust what I see when I'm online.

I know I'll never get rid of it all but I can at least vote with my wallet.

Edited by Brainpox on Tuesday 15th September 14:26

Are Apple that much better?
OP was on an iPhone.
Unless you run an iPhone with no 3rd party apps then you would still be vulnerable to this sort of thing. Even with only Apple apps installed your data would still be harvested by Apple.

[ElectricSoup]

I had a visit from some relatives last weekend, they were telling me about someone who has been stung by a bitcoin dalliance, and someone who is having some moderate success using CBD oil for pain management. Whammo. Monday morning, my inbox is full of bitcoin spam and and I'm seeing CBD oil ads on websites for the first time.

Hmm.

[glenndoble]

personally i'm not really bothered, i can't imagine any of my phone calls or browsing history etc is that interesting to these companies, as long as there is no money leaving my bank account or my identity isn't being used for anything untoward its no big deal,

they are only collecting data to target ads to create a better revenue stream for themselves and at the end of the day you have agreed to these terms when you signed up to account or bought on elf their products

[h0b0]

jeremyc said:

Did you give the sprinkler company a Gmail email address as your contact?

I'm willing to bet that as soon as they put that into their CRM entry then it triggered a Google calendar entry suggestion for you. The time difference thing will be the CRM or Google calendar messing up time zones and/or daylight savings time.

This does seem feasible. I did not provide any info except my address, but as I have used the service before, I assumed that's how they pulled up my account details. I have not had a a calendar suggestion with out an email before though so thought it was the email on my end that triggered the suggested entry and not their CRM tool.

This is a relatively small company as well so I am surprised they would be that integrated. But, I think we have found the answer.

[jeremyc]

h0b0 said:

This is a relatively small company as well so I am surprised they would be that integrated. But, I think we have found the answer

CRM solutions are now easily affordable for the smallest of organisations; many of the cloud based SaaS products only cost a few dollars per month.

[FourWheelDrift]

Brainpox said:

Weird st like this is why I'm migrating everything to Apple and other privacy-centric companies this year.

I love a good laugh to end the day.

[The_Jackal]

Simple solution is to ring the company and ask them if they do anything to push the appointment to you.
All these musings are just that.

[mcflurry]

ElectricSoup said:

I had a visit from some relatives last weekend, they were telling me about someone who has been stung by a bitcoin dalliance, and someone who is having some moderate success using CBD oil for pain management. Whammo. Monday morning, my inbox is full of bitcoin spam and and I'm seeing CBD oil ads on websites for the first time.

Hmm.

Did your relatives use your Wifi?
That could link your IP address to their cookies and cause a targeted ad chain..